On Tuesday, June 11th, a California jury returned
a verdict in the court case of two environmental
activists who had sued FBI and Oakland Police
Department officers. In 1990, Judi Bari and Daryl
Cherney, Earth First! members who had fought the
cutting of old growth redwood trees, were severely
injured when a bomb detonated in their car. Rather
than seeking the perpetrators of the bombing,
possibly the authors of death threats to Bari,
the FBI and Oakland Police Department blamed the
bomb on the victims themselves. Bari and Cherney
were subsequently accused, investigated, had their
homes searched and were arrested. After their
release for lack of evidence, Bari and Cherney
filed suit against the OPD and FBI officers, claiming
violations of their civil rights. After 11 years,
the jury determined that 6 law enforcement officers,
3 each from OPD and FBI, violated their civil
rights, and awarded Bari's estate (Bari died
of breast cancer in 1997) $2.9 million, and Daryl
Cherney $1.5 million.

While this case reminds our law enforcement agencies
that they are not above the law, this case has
historical and political significance that should
give us pause. An essential component of the case
against the FBI and OPD was their pre-bombing
covert surveillance of Bari and Cherney. Further,
their refusal to investigate other suspects and
the speed with which Judi Bari and Daryl Cherney
were accused implied that the FBI and OPD sought
to smear them and the environmental community
as violent criminals. This effort to discredit
and disrupt the environmental organizing of Bari
and Cherney is eerily reminiscent of the FBI's
covert COINTELPRO.

Unchecked in their power, the FBI spied on citizens'
organizations and acted to discredit their leaders,
disrupt their activities, and encourage illegal
forays among civil rights, anti-war, Native American,
and religious and ethnic groups in the United
States. Notable leaders like
Rev. Martin Luther
King, Jr. were tarnished in the media, threatened
with physical harm to themselves and their families,
had their offices searched and ransacked, and
were generally harassed by the very agencies chartered
to protect the rights of Americans - the FBI and
the CIA. Only after the death of autocratic FBI
Director J. Edgar Hoover and the ensuing congressional
investigations initiated by Senator Frank Church
were the activities of the FBI curtailed and safeguards
established to prevent political aggression against
American citizens.

Unfortunately, yesterday's ruling proves
that these nefarious activities of the FBI may
never have stopped. Instead, the environmental
movement was added to the list of 'subversive'
organizations, and too was subjected to FBI espionage
and disruption. In the process, someone got away
with viciously bombing Judi Bari and Daryl Cherney.

Despite the fact that the FBI and the Oakland
Police Department officers who violated Judi Bari
and Daryl Cherney's constitutional rights
have now been brought to justice, the FBI is returning
to their old ways with renewed vigor. Following
the revelations that the FBI and the CIA had knowledge
of terrorists and terrorist organizations within
our nation prior to the September 11th attacks,
the response of the Justice Department was to
give the FBI wider latitude to investigate and
survey potential terrorists and political activity.
While in the current environment these new regulations
may appear useful to some, we must look into the
future to consider the potential for abuse, and
into the past to understand the abuses committed
by the same agency we are again giving free reign
with no accountability.

Though the court decision is commendable and
undoubtedly a source of long-awaited joy for Cherney,
Bari's family and the environmental community
that has supported them, I fear that their victory,
and the knowledge of governmental abuse it uncovered,
will be lost in the rush to hand power to the
FBI and CIA in the name of terrorism preparedness.
That rush ignores the past, and ensures that the
FBI will commit the same invasive abuses again.
Instead, the constitutional abuses at the foundation
of Judi Bari and Daryl Cherney's court case
should serve as the backdrop to the ongoing debate
on terrorism. If our rights are open to abuse
by the government in the name of terrorism prevention,
what sort of nation will we have protected?